


Polite Society

by ParadiseAvenger



Series: Kink Meme Fills [12]
Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Discrimination, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Home, Justice, Kink Meme, Knotting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 04:58:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3475316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadiseAvenger/pseuds/ParadiseAvenger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caine had almost forgotten how other planets and people could be. He had almost let the barriers between them disappear. He had almost leaned down to kiss her, but the whispers halted all the contentment that had begun to swell warm inside his heart. “Disgusting Splice,” they rasped. “It shouldn’t be allowed in polite society.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Solution

I have come to the conclusion that I need a Caine Wise of my very own. Those pointed little ears are just too cute!

Kink meme fill. Prompt at bottom.

X X X

Chicago was one of those places that just couldn’t get its weather together. In the winter, it was devastatingly cold with stinging wind, yards of snowfall, and coats of ice. No one in their right mind went outside unless they had to. On the other side of that coin, Chicago’s summers were blistering. It was like being baked to a nice golden brown in an industrial oven. Those lucky enough to have air-conditioning relished it and those that didn’t made a beeline for the beaches.

Jupiter Jones, unknown Queen of the Earth, didn’t have the luxury of either of these things, but she was making do with the wicked space-age gravity boots that her rescuer turned lover had given her. Skating through the thin air high above Chicago was far more interesting than having air-conditioning, but it wasn’t actually much cooler. Sweat beaded on her brow, ran down her neck, and soaked her t-shirt. Panting softly, she swung up beside Caine and studied him. 

If he was as hot as she was, he hid it better, but she knew he had to be sweltering in his all-black ensemble.

“Maybe we should get some ice cream,” Jupiter offered.

His wings beat softly so he could keep in pace with her slow glide. “Whatever Your Majesty wishes,” he said predictably. 

Jupiter rolled her eyes and began descending towards a deserted rooftop where they had taken off. Caine dropped gracefully beside her, folded his wings tightly against his back, and shrugged into the jacket he was forced to wear to hide them. From the pocket, he produced a hat and tugged it on to hide his pointed ears. If he hadn’t been hot before, he definitely was now and a swell of guilt took up root behind Jupiter’s ribcage. 

The sun baked down on them. She stepped closer to him and trailed her fingers along his covered arms. “Is there some kind of wintry planet we can visit to escape this heat?”

Caine’s eyes brightened. It wasn’t often that Jupiter actually wanted to go off-world, but there were plenty of places he was dying to show her. “Of course,” he said and immediately took off his coat and hat again. 

Together, they flew to the small ship that Caine used to travel between all their worlds and run errands for his queen. It wasn’t exactly designed to fit two people, but Jupiter didn’t mind the excuse to sit in his lap and recline against his chest. Caine had to keep his hands on the controls, but that didn’t stop him from swathing her in his embrace. He tucked his nose into her hair and kissed the back of her neck. Jupiter shivered. She had never felt so safe or loved. She nestled against him. It was cool in the spaceship and Caine’s heartbeat soft against her ear. Soon, she dozed off cuddled against him.

Caine studied her sleeping face and adjusted his long legs to make her more comfortable. She murmured softly and burrowed closer to him. Her small fingers knotted in his shirt, tugging him. Caine tucked his chin over the top of her head and felt her breath puff soft on his throat. He was so lucky that she would ever be with him—a lowly Splice when she was a queen. Every instant they were together, he expected it to be the last. He treasured every kiss and touch as though he might never receive another. Jupiter was precious and rare.

He flew slowly, enjoying her body pressed to him. Finally, he glimpsed the small bluish planet on his navigation display. He used to come here often with other members of the Legion, all Splices like him, but he knew he couldn’t take Jupiter to the slums and hovels where he usually ate or spent the night. She was a queen. She deserved better. So long as it was in his power to give, he wanted her to have everything she deserved. Though it killed him to think it, he wanted her to have more—more than him.

Mindful of the sleeping queen in his lap, he docked his ship on the nicer side of the planet and popped the hatch. Jupiter shivered as cool air ghosted over her lightly and Caine wrapped his arms around her. He dropped kisses on her hair and rubbed her bare arms gingerly. She woke in easy layers, drawn slowly out of the warm cocoon in Caine’s arms like a butterfly. She blinked up at him and then turned her attention out the window. 

Jokul Frosti (1) wasn’t a remarkable planet compared to some of the ones she owned, but it was nice enough. Everything around them danced in hues of blue with lovingly-crafted ice sculptures filling the main plaza. Light shone on them, illuminating the translucent masterpieces that never melted.

“Oh, wow,” Jupiter breathed.

“Come on,” Caine murmured against her ear. 

He got to his feet with her still clasped against him and set her gently on her feet outside the ship. Jupiter’s decision to travel off-world had been too spur-of-the-moment for Caine to procure suitable clothes for a queen, but he still had his jacket and hat. He assisted her into both, tucking curls of loose hair over her shoulder. She shivered, but it was more out of delight than cold. Her breath plumed between them.

Caine took her hand and led her away from the ship. They walked through the plaza, down the cobbled and snow-dusted streets, and took in all the sights. Jupiter looked around like a child and Caine tried to remember a time when sights like this had awed him. Unable to recall any, he just enjoyed her excitement. 

“Let’s go ice-skating,” Jupiter pleaded when she saw a vast frozen lake that had been scraped clean for such a purpose. A few other couples glided across the surface of the ice, laughing, while others sat mutely on the sidelines. The sulking ones reminded Jupiter of her uncle, who couldn’t skate to save his life. 

Caine scrutinized the display, but didn’t protest as she led him to the ice. Stepping onto it created immediate blades on the bottom of her shoes and she delighted in advanced technology. There was nothing quite as obnoxious as trying to lace and unlace skates with frozen fingers. If she had been expecting Caine to be graceless on the ice, she was sorely mistaken. He was poised in the sky, on his gravity boots, walking, and fighting. Ice-skating was no exception. 

Jupiter let go of his hand to skate brazenly in front of him. She leaped into the air, executed a limber whirl, and landed elegantly. Caine’s surprise showed on his lips and in his eyes. He must have been expecting her to be as clumsy as she usually was, but Jupiter was Russian. The ice was a second home to her. She skated back over to him and took his hand. They skated in easy circles with the other couples for a long time. Jupiter’s eyes glowed with mirth. 

She couldn’t hear the whispers. 

After spending so much time with Jupiter and Stinger’s family, Caine had almost forgotten how other planets and people could be. He had almost let the barriers between them disappear. He had almost leaned down to kiss her, but the whispers halted all the contentment that had begun to swell warm inside his heart. He didn’t pull apart from her, unwilling to give himself away and ruin her enjoyment of the new planet. He tried to ignore the whispers, but his sensitive ears picked them up regardless of his wishes.

“Is that a Splice?” a woman hissed. “What’s it doing here?”

“Must be that girl’s pet,” a man mumbled. 

“It shouldn’t be allowed in polite society regardless.”

“How disgusting,” another young woman snarled.

“Caine?” Jupiter’s voice interrupted their vile words. “Is something wrong? You look tense.” Softly, she pressed her fingertip to the corner of his mouth and rubbed at the frown growing there.

Caine shook himself and smiled softly at her. “It’s nothing, Your Majesty,” he told her.

Jupiter didn’t look convinced.

“I’m just getting hungry,” he relented beneath her hard gaze. It wasn’t entirely a lie. He was, but he wasn’t sure he would be able to eat right now. His stomach clenched into a knot, cold and hurt by their bitterness. They didn’t know him, but they knew what he was. He supposed that was enough. 

“I could eat too,” Jupiter murmured with a light giggle. “I wonder what they have to eat on this world.”

Caine had hoped they could return to Earth for dinner, but he didn’t want to put a damper on Jupiter’s excitement. He nodded, pressed his lips together, and tried not to glance over his shoulder at the other skaters. They were still whispering about him. Caine tightened his grip on her hand and tugged Jupiter towards the edge of the lake. He stepped off into the thick snow and it crunched under his boots like bones. She stepped after him, but he lifted her over the dense drift to set her down on the cobbled street again.

Jupiter leaned into his side once he joined her and looped her arm around his waist. “Where should we eat?” she asked.

“Wherever Your Majesty pleases,” Caine murmured and breathed in the cold night air. It was quiet around them and he began to relax.

Jupiter rose onto her toes to press a kiss to his lips. Caine couldn’t help but dissolve greedily into her touches, her kisses, her love. He didn’t know how long he would be blessed with her and he wanted to treasure every moment. He thrummed softly in his chest, tongue sliding past her teeth to taste her. Jupiter moaned softly. A little bubble of pride welled in his chest. He could do that to her, make her feel that way, make her blush like this. 

Jupiter broke the kiss gently. “Come on,” she said. “I’m still hungry.”

Caine bumped his nose against hers. “I could eat you,” he murmured.

Jupiter swatted at his shoulder, but the blush on her cheeks told him that she wasn’t as adverse to that idea as she portrayed.

They made their way back through the twisting streets. Jupiter read several signs aloud to him, or tried to. Most were written in the language of the people of Jokul Frosti and she didn’t understand a word of what she was attempting to pronounce. 

“That’s a shoe store,” Caine told her as she read another sign. “And it’s closed for the night.”

Jupiter huffed. “How about that one?” she asked and pointed at what must have been a restaurant if the tables she could see through the frosted windows were any indication. People were coming and going in a steady stream through the front door so it must still be open. 

Caine scanned the sign and his heart skipped a beat. “Wait, Jup—”

“No more excuses,” she told him sternly. “They’re not a shoe store and they’re open.” She grasped his hand and towed him towards the busy restaurant. She smoothed her hair with one hand and glanced at her reflection in a nearby window. She was a little underdressed compared to everyone else, but she didn’t think it mattered enough to care. With Caine close at her back, still calling her name, she pulled open the door and sighed as the heat washed over her. She was already looking forward to going home to the unbearable heat of Chicago in summer. 

The robotic hostess looked up at them. Her mechanical eyes scanned, flashed, and then narrowed.

Caine tried again. “Jupiter, wait—”

Jupiter caught his hand and squeezed it. She looked around and saw that there were a few empty tables, but the place was otherwise packed. They must have good food. “A table for two, please,” Jupiter said politely. Just because the host was a robot didn’t mean she had forgotten her manners. 

Unfortunately, the robot didn’t feel the same way. In a clipped voice, the hostess informed her, “We do not allow Splices in this establishment. Leave at once.”

Jupiter froze, her lips still parted to speak.

Caine pressed against her back, warm and solid. “Let’s go,” he insisted.

Jupiter remained there, stricken by the robot-host’s words. 

“Jupiter,” Caine said urgently. “Come on. Come with me.”

“Splices aren’t welcome here,” the robot repeated. 

Jupiter looked around and saw that the nearest tables were staring at them—no, not at her, just at Caine—with disdainful sneers. It was the kind of expression she would have expected if she had walked in with a carcass of rotting meat. They were disgusted with him simply because he was a Splice. 

He tugged insistently on her hand. “Jupiter, let’s go.”

“How…?” Jupiter breathed and swiveled her attention back to the leering host.

“Are you deaf?” the robot snapped. “Maybe lost?”

Jupiter’s lips worked but no sound came out.

“The Dog Fights are around the block,” the robot told her tersely.

Caine flinched as if struck. 

Jupiter’s eyes widened further. Did that mean what she thought it did?

Unable to bear any more, Caine scooped her into his arms and carried her swiftly out of the restaurant.

The robot’s voice chased them. “Do not touch a human, worthless Splice!”

The cold night closed around them as the scenery flashed by in a blur. Caine moved easily on his gravity boots, his wings flapping noisily in the cold air, as they streamed away like a peregrine diving for prey. He kept her tight against his chest, blocked from the stinging wind as he sped back to the ship. He clambered inside, settled her in his lap, and slammed the door. It took him mere seconds to power up the ship and send them rocketing off for destinations unknown. Finally, the ship leveled out and drifted peacefully through space. It was only then that Jupiter was able to hear Caine’s ragged breathing over the pounding of her own heart. She shifted in his lap to look up at his face. He kept his eyes directly forward. 

“Caine?” she whispered.

His gold eyes flickered, but didn’t meet hers.

Jupiter shifted awkwardly onto her knees and tried to cradle his face in her hands. 

He shied away from her hold, turning his attention out the window as they drifted past the ruined remains of Balem’s Jupiter.

“Caine, please,” she murmured, “What was that about? Tell me, please.”

“I told you,” he bit out sharply. “I have more in common with a dog than I do with you.”

Jupiter opened her mouth to protest.

“Just because you don’t believe it doesn’t make it untrue. Splices are an inferior species.” He said icily, “Just intelligent beasts.”

Jupiter let the words hang between them. She could feel that no matter what she said now, Caine wouldn’t allow the words in. He had closed down. An iron barrier slipped into place to protect him from the rest of the cruel universe. It was so unfair that people would change him, twist him, remake him—splice him—for their own purposes, but not accept him for what they had made him. 

Silently, Jupiter tucked herself against his chest. She rested her chin on his shoulder, breath pluming softly on the raised scar that was the mark of his splicer. When she felt him relax a little more, she leaned forward and gently kissed it. His entire body shuddered at the feeling, his raw broken skin sensitive and probably still painful after all these years. Jupiter breathed in the scent of him and then turned her attention from his brand to kiss his pulse softly.

Caine sighed and finally curled one arm around her body, holding her close. For the longest time, he just held her as the ship drifted soundlessly through the void of space. It was enough that she could be here for him, kissing what she could reach of his skin and being in his arms. Caine stroked the ends of her hair, feeling the soft silk beneath his rough fingers. He was comforted by her, soothed by their contact, reassured. Softly, Caine let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

Finally, he murmured, “Do you want… to know what a Dog Fight is?”

Jupiter wasn’t sure she did, but if Caine wanted to talk about something, she wasn’t going to deny him the chance. He could trust her. Nothing he said would ever change that. She nodded slowly, hair tickling his exposed throat. 

He breathed out shakily. “You probably still have them on Earth, but I’ve heard they’re illegal.”

Jupiter’s heart clenched. She could already feel where this was going and nausea gripped her.

“On other planets, they don’t use dogs anymore,” Caine murmured. “But Splices are… lower than dogs. They’ll throw two into a ring and they’ll fight to the death… or whatever is closest to it.”

Jupiter thought about the scars she had seen on his body. “Have you ever…?”

He trembled.

Jupiter had never once seen Caine look frightened, even as he stared down the barrel of a gun or was closed in on all sides by armed guards. 

“No,” Caine breathed finally and his voice was as thin and frail as paper. “No, but I’ve… I’ve seen the ones that come back and the ones that don’t.” His breath rattled in his chest. “There are faces just ripped apart, fingers bitten off, and so much blood… So much damage, but lycan-splices are so,” Caine hesitated, gathering himself as he nuzzled into her hair. 

“They want nothing more than to please, to make whoever they belong to happy. It’s in their genes. They’ll do anything,” he murmured brokenly. “In a way, it’s a blessing that I was sold to the Legion. A runt like me would have been perfect fodder for Dog Fighters and I wouldn’t have lasted long.”

Jupiter coiled her arms around his neck and hugged him close. Caine clung to her, his nose pressed into the soft skin of her neck. 

“I’ll fix this,” Jupiter whispered. 

Caine pulled back slightly to look into her face, confused. 

“I’m a Queen now, aren’t I?” she asked and rested her forehead against his. “I want to stop them from harvesting planets into vials of people juice, too, but I think this is a better starting point.”

Caine’s breath shuddered between them. “Majesty,” he murmured. “I don’t know if you can… How can you change the minds of everyone? They know Splices are lower than—”

Jupiter kissed his lips gently to silence him. “It’s worth a try,” she said softly.

Caine’s eyes gleamed with trust and hope, pain and memories, love and scars.

She tucked her cheek against his, nuzzling into him. “Let’s go somewhere quiet. Just you and me, okay?”

Caine nodded slowly. 

Jupiter shifted in his arms, settling down for the ride. She was silent as Caine piloted the small vessel. She wondered where he’d take them since she hadn’t given any inclination towards a destination. She figured that Caine would go somewhere that made him feel safe, somewhere that felt like home to him, but he flew aimlessly. When Jupiter looked up at his face, his expression was pinched.

“Caine?” she asked.

He glanced down at her in his lap. “Yes?”

“Where are you taking us?”

He hesitated and then admitted, “I don’t know.”

Jupiter reached to trace her finger along the line of his jaw. His head turned with her touch and he gazed down at her. His eyes were soft and sad. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

Caine leaned his cheek into her hand. “It’s just… when you’re upset, you always want to go home.”

Jupiter stared at him, unsure where this was going.

Caine’s throat flashed as he swallowed and she felt him tremble where her hand was pressed to his cheek. “At times like this, I wish I could go home.”

“Why don’t you?” Jupiter asked. “You’re not close to your parents?”

Caine closed his eyes. “I’m a Splice,” he murmured. He wet his lips and his breath rattled in his lungs. “I was engineered in a lab. I don’t have any parents. I don’t have a home to go to. Stinger is the closest thing I’ve ever had to family… and you.”

Jupiter froze, shocked. As much as her family drove her crazy, she couldn’t imagine her life without them. She couldn’t imagine not having her cousin explaining another harebrained money-making scheme, her mother’s voice rousing her in the morning, her uncle demanding they speak English. “Oh, Caine,” she whispered sorrowfully.

He nuzzled into her fingers and she cupped the shell of his ear. She stroked his face and Caine dipped his head to kiss her sweetly. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened for him, welcoming him inside. His arm caged her shoulders, pressing her flush against him, and she sighed with delight. They kissed for what felt like the longest time. Jupiter could nearly taste the shattered pieces of Caine stitching themselves together though the deep fissures of the breaks still remained. 

“Caine,” she murmured softly.

His golden eyes met hers. 

Her throat was dry and her heart ached for him. She wanted so badly to fix this, but she wasn’t sure this was a wound that could ever be healed. Maybe trying to do so would simply offend him or hurt him worse, but she had to try. “Would it… I mean, would you mind if… I became part of your family?” she asked softly. “Could you be home with me?”

For a long time, Caine just stared at her. His golden eyes glimmered like jewels and his breath came short. For a moment, Jupiter thought she had said something horrendously wrong and offended him. She braced for him to push her away, to snarl, to recoil into the shell of himself. He did none of those things. All at once, tears welled on his lashes and spilled over.

With a jolt, Caine wiped his eyes hastily. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I don’t know what—”

Jupiter cupped his face and kissed him. She felt his tears slide warm and wet down his cheeks, roll against her palms and between her fingers. His tongue slipped between her lips, delving into her with a desperate abandon he had never expressed before. It was as though he was terrified to lose her, that she would take her words back, that he would lose something he had never even had. Jupiter tilted her head back and let him deepen the kiss. Slowly, Caine broke away from her, but remained close enough to press his forehead to hers.

“Yes,” he breathed. “Yes, yes.”

Jupiter smiled and stroked his hair. “That means… take us home, Caine.”

A tremor ran through his entire body, quavering deep in his heart and soul as the word touched him. He nodded once, jerkily, and spurred the ship into motion. It didn’t take them long to return to the blue-and-green marble that was Earth. He wove invisibly through all the tall buildings of Chicago and docked above Jupiter’s roof. He placed a lingering kiss on her lips before allowing the beam to take them down. His held her in his arms as he found his footing on the shingles. His wings unfurled and gently flew them to the ground. 

Jupiter peeked into the kitchen window and saw that her home was—for once—deserted of loud Russian family members. Maybe they had gone to the beach or out for ice cream to escape the heat. She couldn’t help the smile that slipped across her lips as she took Caine’s hand. She fished the key out from under the mat, unlocked the door, and led him inside. The familiar smells of stroganov and knish wrapped around her, reminding her of all the nights she spent squished between her mother and aunt at dinner. She took off Caine’s borrowed jacket and hat and hung them on the coat rack. 

Though Caine had been in her house briefly to be subjected to her family and picked her up for dates, he looked around as though seeing it for the very first time. His boots clunked heavily on the thick carpet as he wandered. Jupiter stood back and just watched him, her heart aching, as he looked at all the family photos in frames on every available surface. He trailed his fingertips over her young toothy smile in several, lips curving faintly. 

Jupiter approached behind him and slipped her arms around his waist, resting her cheek on his back. He was unbelievably warm and she sighed in bliss. Caine rested his hands on her bare forearms, stroking her skin gently. 

“Let’s go upstairs,” Jupiter whispered.

Caine nodded and let her pull him up the narrow stairs. Every other step creaked noisily. By now, Jupiter was used to the sounds of her house and knew them as well as her own heartbeat, but Caine looked down at them with surprise. Jupiter nudged open the door to the cluttered room she shared with her mother and aunt. Clean clothes hung against the wardrobes near her mother and aunt’s neatly-made beds. A bronze telescope stood watch at the window, reminding everyone of Jupiter’s father.

Caine examined everything curiously. 

“Do you like it?” Jupiter asked when he didn’t speak.

Caine glanced at her, paced over to stand close, and then lifted his hands helplessly to her shoulders. “I reminds me… a little of my bunk in the Legion,” he admitted cautiously. “This is the home of the Queen of Earth? Somehow, I thought it would be… different.”

“Home is what you make of it,” Jupiter explained. “It can be anything, just so long as it’s home.”

Caine nodded in slow understanding. 

Jupiter backed towards her bed, pulling Caine with her by the waist. His breath stirred her long hair. He tucked his chin over her shoulder so she couldn’t see his face as he looked down at her rumpled blankets and nest of pillows. Above Jupiter’s narrow bed, posters of planets and boys had been taped up like wallpaper. Caine rumbled low in his chest.

Jupiter ran her fingers along his hips. “I’d hang up a picture of you if you’d let me take one,” she murmured.

He didn’t agree or outright deny it like he usually did and Jupiter thought that was progress. 

Jupiter turned away from Caine to quickly make her bed. As she bent to straighten the sheets, Caine coiled his arms around her and tugged her back against him. His nose pressed into the bare skin of her neck, breath whispering there, and he kissed her gently. Ever so tenderly, he licked the sensitive juncture of her neck and shoulder. Jupiter shivered at the sensation.

“Thank you,” Caine whispered, “for this… for everything.”

Jupiter tried to turn in his arms, but he tightened his grip on her hips to keep her pressed flush against him. With a soft sigh, she straightened up and leaned against him. Caine’s warm hands wandered her waist, her belly, her collarbones reverently. He slipped his hand against her throat, fingers cradling her windpipe and sliding over her pulse. Jupiter’s eyes fluttered closed and she tipped her head back slightly to allow access to her most vulnerable place. She felt his fingers tremble.

“Aren’t you afraid?” Caine breathed, stroking down her pulse.

“No,” Jupiter murmured. “I trust you.”

Caine lowered his head and pressed his lips to her throat. His lips parted and she shivered at the scrape of his teeth. “I’m a Splice,” he whispered. “A defective Splice.”

Jupiter’s skin quivered and she reached backwards to blindly tangle her fingers in his hair. She tugged his mouth a little tighter against her throat, tilting her head and melting into the soft wet press of his tongue to her pulse. “No one is perfect,” she murmured, “but… you’re close enough for me.”

Caine’s lips closed over her throat and he sucked, teeth rasping over her skin. Jupiter moaned. Pleasure weakened her knees and it was only Caine’s arms holding her up. She crumbled as he nipped the oversensitive skin just behind her ear, breath puffing warmly across the shell of her ear and reminding her of flying. His wings came around her like a castle, warm and soft. She ran her hand along the curve of them, feeling the feathers twitch beneath her fingers. Caine shuddered, the sensation of having his wings touched as unfamiliar as the thought of home. 

He lifted her into his arms, held her for the briefest moment in the cocoon of his body, and then laid her down on the bed. Jupiter gripped his shoulders and pulled him down against her. Her thighs parted easily and he fit between them as though carved for her body. Her back arched as the weight of his body pressed where she wanted him the most. A strangled moan escaped her lips and she wrapped her legs around his waist. She slipped her hands beneath his shirt and felt his skin prickle with goose bumps. He thrummed in his chest and bent his head to kiss her again.

Hungrily, Jupiter peeled his shirt off and ran her fingers over the hard planes of his chest uninhibited. She slipped her arms around his back and over the soft flesh between his wings. He trembled as she stroked where his wings met his body. His hands danced at the edge of her shirt, desire and caution warring inside him. Jupiter arched into his hands, moaning her encouragement. Caine slipped his hands beneath her shirt and cradled the span of her ribcage in his big hands. 

Jupiter helped him remove her shirt and unfasten her bra since the ‘primitive harness’ still confounded him. Bare before him, Jupiter waited for the flush of embarrassment and vulnerability, but it still didn’t come. Being with Caine was different from being with anyone else. She felt treasured, protected, and loved. His thumbs rasped gently over her skin, worshipful, reverent, as though he was memorizing her body with the thought that he could never touch her again. She found that both endearing and heartbreaking. 

Jupiter lifted her hips against him, grinding against his hardness. A strangled sound escaped Caine and Jupiter smiled up at him. He folded his hand over her breast and squeezed gently. His skin was hot and rough, raising her nipples into delighted peaks. He dipped his head to her throat, nipping her windpipe and then licking her pulse. Jupiter trembled, clutching his shoulders as if she had found safe harbor in a storm. He ran his thumbs over her nipples and she gasped breathlessly.

Jupiter slipped her hands to Caine’s waist, fumbled at his belt, and finally managed to unfasten it. Caine put enough space between them to kick off his boots and let her pull down his pants. She was immediately rewarded with his bare skin and gripped his slick length in her hand. He hissed, breathlessly moaning against her neck. She stroked him, relishing the way his fingers trembled on her breasts as she rubbed her thumb over his weeping tip. Caine tugged at her jeans, hands shaking with want and restraint.

“Caine,” she moaned.

He jolted. The sound of his name—his name of all the names in the ’verse—on her lips was everything he had ever dreamed. 

Jupiter lifted her hips so he could slide her jeans and panties off. Her sneakers slipped from her feet easily. Bare, she pressed hungrily against him. Her hand glided over his shoulders, into his hair, and then down over his wings. Each caress made him tremble. Her other hand stroked the length of him, weighing the familiar girth and size. She was already so wet for him and he hadn’t even touched her yet. Caine’s nostrils flared as he breathed in the scent of her skin, of her arousal. 

A little blush stained Jupiter’s cheeks at the thought that he could smell her desire. Caine ran his fingertips over the peaks of her breasts, across her belly, and dipped between her parted thighs. She tipped her head back and moaned softly as he slipped his fingers inside her. She was so wet and warm, swallowing his fingers greedily, as he pumped them into her. She tightened her grip on his member, stroking firmly. Their wrists bumped, intertwined as they touched each other.

“Please,” she whispered and wrapped one leg around his hips tightly to press him closer.

Caine took his length in his hand and guided it to her opening. Jupiter clung to his shoulders as he slipped into her. She moaned softly as he filled her, opening her body with the familiar stretch of him. She trembled in pleasure, her toes curling with delight. Caine groaned softly at the feeling of her clenched tight and hot around him. Slowly at first, he began to rock his hips into her. Her eyes fluttered shut and she tipped her head back. He kissed her, tongue darting between her lips in time with his thrusts.

Jupiter moaned and slid her hands over the soft feathers of his wings. They trembled beneath her hands, flexing and beating very gently with his thrusts. They were an extension of him, as expressive as his hands and face could be. She angled her pelvis to meet his, gasping as his knot began to swell inside her. She was overfull, aching with him, but it felt too good to stop. The knot rubbed the soft place just inside her that made her limbs tingle with delight. He reached between their bodies and rubbed her pearl, providing everything she needed to come in a blur of light. 

She cried out his name.

Caine’s wings trembled, his hands shook, and his member slid home deep inside her. A tremor washed through his body as he came, seed washing warm against her walls. His knot swelled, stretching her almost to the point of pain. 

Jupiter moaned his name again, twisting to get comfortable.

Caine cradled her to his chest and rolled onto his back with his wings spread beneath them. Still sheathed inside her, softening with the slowness natural to his Splice, he held her in the haven of his arms and wings. His skin burned beneath her hands and she rested her ear against his heartbeat. Jupiter breathed out slowly, softly, and kissed the faint scar beneath his collarbone. 

“Welcome home, Caine,” Jupiter whispered.

X X X

(1) Jokul Frosti means Jack Frost in Norse.

(2) Writing about Caine not having a home reminded me of this picture of a girl, Tereska, who grew up in a concentration camp and was asked to draw her home. Needless to say, it’s a picture that disturbs you as much as it hurts to see it. Link: http://aphelis.net/tereska-draws-home-david-seymour/

 **Prompt:** http://jakink.dreamwidth.org/724.html?thread=12244#cmt12244

Questions, comments, concerns?


	2. Resolution

Well, I usually never come back to a story once I’ve deemed it complete. I read all the suggestions and requests for what people want to see, consider them, and decided that I like my story the way it is. For once, I actually decided to go back and add more. Voila!

X X X

Jokul Frosti remained as Jupiter remembered it, if a little colder, but that might have just been the weight of the act she was about to perform lying heavy on her shoulders and heart. She was dressed to the nines, looking every bit the queen she was. As she stepped out of the massive spaceship that belonged to royalty, her heels slipped on the ice and the train of her gown tripped her. She cursed under her breath and staggered. Caine was there immediately, his hand warm and firm beneath her elbow as he steadied her on her feet.

Jupiter righted herself and thanked him with a smile. 

Caine’s eyes were dark and pinched at the edges. He began to move away from her, his wings hunched low against his back.

Jupiter caught his hand and tugged him closer. “Caine,” she murmured.

He glanced at her and then his eyes darted to the growing crowd in the streets of the wintry planet. The sight of the ornate spacecraft hovering imposingly over their planet had drawn them all out. They stood, pointing and gasping and then bowing in deference when they realized who walked within their midst. Jupiter came without many guards and chose to leave most on her ship. Caine was the only one she had chosen to keep at her side. Now, she threaded her fingers with his and squeezed his hand gently.

“You realize you’re in the presence of a queen, don’t you?” she asked Caine in a whisper as she waved to the crowd like she had seen in a parade.

Caine looked perhaps a little smaller at her words, shrinking beneath the burn of all their eyes.

Jupiter nudged him with her elbow. “Try to look a little proud,” she counseled. “Hold your head high. None of these people could ever hold a candle to you.”

Caine’s eyes darted to her face and a little smile pulled at his lips. He always glowed when she complimented him, when she kissed him, when she touched him. 

Jupiter ran her hand along the crest of his wings and they shuddered beneath her hand. Scratching absently between them, she smiled as Caine unfurled them just enough. He stood a little taller, a little prouder, at her side. Jupiter continued to hold his hand in hers as a single sweating nervous man pushed through the crowd and stumbled to a stop in front of her. She smiled a little at him, reminded of being in high school. He was like the nerd finally getting to meet the prom queen. 

Jokul Frosti was a backwater planet. Caine had told her that it was divided neatly between upper- and lower-class hemispheres. Jupiter could guess which half was home to the hovels and dives that Caine visited with the Legion, which half pandered to Dog Fights and other atrocities, and which half they had visited previously. If she had been given the decision to choose, she would have labeled both lower-class. Her hearth thrummed with anger and disappointment. 

“Y-Y-Y-Y-Your Majesty,” the man sputtered out and mopped his brow. “We—I—we didn’t know you were coming.” He froze in shock and quickly continued, “I would be happy to accommodate you however I please.” He froze again, stricken by the faux pas of nervous words. 

Jupiter laughed a little at his plight and waved her hand. “It’s alright,” she said as regally as she could manage.

The sweating man took a deep breath and let it out. He must have heard stories about House Abrasax and worried that Jupiter would cut out his tongue or something. Realizing that she was benevolent must have been a weight off his shoulders. “Your Majesty,” he said a little easier. “I would be delighted to serve you dinner at my manor. Certainly it is nothing compared to what you are used to, but…”

Jupiter smiled at him and explained, “I already have plans on where to dine tonight. Thank you, though.”

The man’s eyes darted between her humming spaceship to Jupiter’s beautiful winter gown to the black-clad Splice at her side. As though seeing Caine for the first time, his lip curled slightly in disdain, but he didn’t say anything about her choice in guards. “Would Your Majesty like an escort to your destination?” 

“I would,” she said curtly.

Beside her, Caine jolted with surprise. 

“In fact, I would like everyone to escort me.”

A murmur of excitement moved through the crowd.

Jupiter adjusted her grip on Caine. She slipped her arm through the bend of his elbow and steadied herself with his strength as her heels tortured her on the ice. Caine walked beside her with his wing occasionally brushing against her back and shoulder. The feathers were warm and soft, as gentle as his lips, and she shivered. Head held high, Jupiter led her merry procession through the streets of Jokul Frosti. She strained her ears to hear the whispers that Caine did, but she couldn’t hear anything over the crunch of snow and ice beneath her feet. Maybe they weren’t speaking for once.

“Caine?” she whispered to him.

As though reading her mind, he told her softly, “They’re saying that you would do better to use a cane than a Splice. They wonder how you could touch me.”

Jupiter tucked herself a little closer to his side. “They’re wrong,” she assured him, “and stupid.”

He didn’t protest or pull away, but he didn’t agree either. 

Jupiter wove the familiar path through the wintry streets. She spotted the shoe store from last time and then saw the blue frosted windows of the restaurant that had turned them away. It was even busier than last time with a line of people going out the door. They all turned to stare as she approached. 

“Last time we were here,” Jupiter whispered to Caine, “You knew what was going to happen even before I walked in the door. How did you know?”

“They have a sign,” Caine explained quietly, “There.”

Jupiter scanned the unfamiliar writing, but didn’t know which sign proclaimed they didn’t allow Splices. She supposed it didn’t really matter. She planned to put a stop to that once and for all right now.

The same or at least a similar model of robotic hostess stood at the door. She hastened out when she saw the procession, opening the door for Jupiter and welcoming her inside. Jupiter entered the restaurant like she owned the world. Everyone immediately fell silent, straining to listen to the Queen as she spoke. She let go of Caine long enough to remove the plush fur stole from around her shoulders and hand it to the sweating man at her back. He held it awkwardly for a moment before the robot took it and hung it up on an advanced coat rack. Jupiter didn’t miss how three slots were given to her tiny stole, cramming other peoples coats together in smaller places. She tucked her arm back through Caine’s.

“Your Majesty,” the robot said politely. Her eyes scanned over Caine, but she didn’t say anything about him. “I am having a table prepared for Your Majesty immediately.”

“A table for two,” Jupiter said in a tone that left no room for argument.

“Of course, Your Majesty,” the hostess said.

The robot didn’t look or sound surprised, but the sweaty man gasped in delight.

Jupiter expected more of a fight, but she realized that maybe they had misunderstood her meaning. Maybe they thought another royal or ambassador of some kind was joining her for dinner. Jupiter turned to Caine and asked loudly enough for everyone to hear, “Where would you like to sit, Caine?”

“Wherever Your Majesty pleases,” he said formally.

As though a second or third Ice Age had rolled in abruptly, the entire restaurant froze in shock.

The robot’s eyes scanned helplessly over Caine and then Jupiter. Then, her programming emerged to the forefront and Jupiter couldn’t particularly blame the robot as much as she did the humans that had programmed her that way. “We do not allow Splices in this establishment,” the hostess said.

Jupiter smiled behind closed lips and said, “Let me speak to your manager.”

The robot’s eyes flashed a myriad of colors and something chimed distantly. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

A brief moment later, a dashing specimen of the male gender joined them in the entryway. He had thick waves black hair and smooth caramel skin. His dark eyes assessed the situation quickly and then he put on a winning smile. He bowed low. “Your Majesty,” he said sweetly. “What seems to be the trouble?”

“I would like a table for two,” she said with firm politeness, “for myself and my—” She hesitated briefly. She didn’t want to degrade Caine by calling him her guard, her lover, or her Splice, but she didn’t know what else to say. “Caine,” she finished lamely.

The owner’s eyes darted to Caine, took in his ears and wings, and then returned to Jupiter’s face. He was silent for a moment, weighing his options and the invisible nuances in her words. He looked at the assembly of people at her back. “I see,” he said finally. “Your Majsty intends to rent the entire restaurant then?”

Of all the things she had been expecting him to say, that was not one of them. Jupiter just stared at him for a minute, puzzled, and then shook her head. “No, I would like a table just for the two of us,” she repeated patiently.

The owner pushed a hand through his thick hair. He grew ashen beneath his tan.

“Or are you refusing to give me what I want?” Jupiter asked icily.

He jolted back a step. “No, of course not, Your Majesty.”

“Then what is the problem?”

Helpless in front of her, the owner backed away.

The robot repeated habitually, “We do not allow Splices in this establishment.”

“Is that so?” Jupiter repeated.

Stricken and pale, the owner waved his hands. “Of course, we will make an exception for Your Majesty’s Splice. It’s just—”

“Just what?” Jupiter demanded.

“Does Your Majesty realize the business this will cost us?” the owner sputtered. 

Even in her heels, Jupiter wasn’t tall enough to tower over anyone, but she somehow seemed to fill the small space. She glared at the owner of the restaurant. “You’re a fool to segregate people like this,” she snapped, “Just because Caine is a Splice. You do realize without Splices to protect you, this miserable little rock would have been taken over my pirates or the like centuries ago, don’t you?”

The owner wrung his hands.

“Take down that disgusting sign,” Jupiter ordered, “and if I ever see it again, you don’t want to know what I’ll make you do with it.”

The owner bowed his head, pushed through the crowd at Jupiter’s back, and disappeared outside.

A slender waitress in black stepped to the forefront. “Your table is ready, Your Majesty.”

“My table for two?” Jupiter asked and forced herself not to snap at this girl.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” the waitress assured her with a smile.

“Good.” 

Still gripping Caine’s arm, Jupiter strode through the restaurant to the table that had been prepared for them. It reminded her a little bit of Earth with its sleek wooden surface, but cushioned armchairs had been pulled around it. A lone candle was lit at its center and goblets of water had already been poured. 

“Does this table please Your Majesty and her guest?” the waitress asked.

Caine jolted, shocked that the waitress would ask if he liked the table as well.

Jupiter smiled. She looked around and saw that countless pairs of wide eyes stared back at her. “Yes,” she said smoothly.

The waitress let out a little sigh of relief.

Caine pulled Jupiter’s chair out, helped her sit, and then pushed it in slightly. He hesitated for just a moment, the vibration in his feathers giving away his nervousness, before sitting down stiffly across from her. His throat flashed as he swallowed.

“Can I start Your Majesty with something to drink?” the waitress asked.

Jupiter opened her mouth to order a Coke and then closed it. This was the part of her plan that she hadn’t quite thought out. She had never been out to eat at another planet before and Caine didn’t look like he was about to step up to the plate and order something for her. “Um,” she said helplessly.

A little smile tugged the waitress’s lips. “Maybe you need a minute to think about it?”

Jupiter nodded.

“Your Majesty,” Caine began as soon as the waitress walked away.

Jupiter wrinkled her nose. “Caine.”

“Jupiter,” he continued quietly. “Is this really necessary? I mean, I’m not worth all this—”

Jupiter was tempted to kick him under the table, but forced herself not to. “Caine, have you ever stopped to think that without you, I wouldn’t be alive right now?”

He went still, golden eyes searching her face. Finally, he said, “Someone else would have—”

“Would have clung, shirtless, to Kalique’s ship when she kidnapped me? Would have braved a field of War Hammers? Would have risked flying into Balem’s Jupiter as it imploded?” She ticked his dangerous feats of daring off her fingers. “Do you really believe someone else would have done those things for me?”

Caine stared at the fancy glass of water and admitted, “No.”

Jupiter reached across the table and closed her hand over his. “Caine, you deserve this and more after everything you’ve done for me,” she said gently. “Whether you’re a Splice or if you were human, you still deserve it.”

The waitress returned with a bottle of sparkling liquor of the brightest blue. “If I may be so bold,” she offered politely.

Jupiter nodded, curious.

The young woman set down two goblets before Jupiter and Caine, uncorked the bottle with a flourish, and filled their glasses. Miniature snowflakes danced above the glasses, swirling on an invisible breeze before settling. Then, very timidly, the waitress knelt at Jupiter’s side and whispered, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Surprised, Jupiter gazed at the young woman. “For what?”

The waitress wet her lips and twisted the bottle nervously in her hands. Finally, she whispered, “My brother joined the Legion last year. He was Spliced, just like your friend. Ever since then, he hasn’t been allowed to do the things he used to, just because he’s a Splice.”

Caine took a deep breath. Jupiter folded her hands on the table, hoping that no one would see the tremor of rage that moved through her. 

“It’s just nice to see someone who cares,” the waitress finished softly. “So, thank you, Your Majesty.” 

After helping Jupiter order, the waitress left them alone with the colored liquor sparkling between them. Jupiter beckoned Caine with her finger, smiling coyly. Caine leaned forward awkwardly at the table. Jupiter slipped her fingers beneath his chin and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips. Caine froze, his muscles tightening as everyone in the restaurant gasped with surprise. Somewhere, a waiter even dropped a tray of dishes with a clatter. Jupiter smiled at him as she pulled away, fingers lingering along his jaw delicately. 

Caine let his breath out in a shudder, unable to help the smile that pulled his own lips. His body tingled with her touch, wings thrumming with pleasure and surprise. Queen Jupiter, an Entitled, loved him of all people. She didn’t care that he was a Splice. She was willing to fight for him. He didn’t think anyone would ever dare, but she did. She didn’t care about the whispers that rose in the wake of her kiss. In fact, she leaned forward to kiss him softly again. She didn’t care what the rest of the world thought and Caine’s heart lightened. 

…

“There’s one more thing we have to do before we go,” Jupiter told Caine after they left the restaurant. She had her hand tucked into his elbow, holding him for support as they made their way through the snow-filled streets of Jokul Frosti. 

“What?” Caine asked curiously. His warm hand was folded over hers, thumb moving in slow sweeps across her knuckles. 

“Show me where the Dog Fights take place,” she said without preamble.

Caine stopped dead. 

…

The warehouse Caine brought her to looked like it had been abandoned for the better part of a century. The windows were shattered, part of the roof had caved in, snow heaped against its walls, and it was pitch dark inside. Caine explained that it was cloaked to appear so and that it was actually rather high-scale on the inside. Jupiter’s guards were assembled at her back. Caine insisted she bring all of them since the people responsible for things like this were beyond dangerous. He kept her close at his side as her guards bashed down the doors and streamed inside like water filling a sinking ship.

Pandemonium was unleashed. 

It took the better part of half an hour to bring the hideous place under control. With Caine at her side and all her medical technicians leading the way, Jupiter entered the warehouse. Row upon row of shackled organizers knelt at the feet of her guards. They looked as she had expected with cruel dark eyes. What she hadn’t expected were all the well-dressed nobles and civilians that had come to watch the horror show. They had been shouting threats at the guards, but fell silent when they recognized Jupiter as Entitled.

She thought she would be ready for what she saw, but nothing could have prepared her for the sight that awaited her. It was far worse than Caine had described, than anything she had read about or imagined. The warehouse was packed to the brim with stadium-style seats. A large ring occupied most of the center. Hot spotlights streamed down on everything, illuminating the copious amounts of blood and soiled bandages and chains littering the area. A few dead Splices were stacked against the wall like garbage to be taken out later. 

Jupiter’s technicians set to work mending the Splices that had been forced to fight. As Caine had described, the damage to them was impossible to comprehend. The fights were weaponless, enacted with teeth and claws and fists. Their faces had been ripped by teeth, eyes gouged out, fingers bitten away, joints dislocated, and bones shattered. No magic healing spray in the world was going to be able to repair them completely. Nauseous, Jupiter leaned against Caine and he steadied her.

“What should we do with them, Your Majesty?” the colonel asked when he saw her.

Jupiter wet her lips. Her heart warred with the pain she could so clearly see. Finally, she gestured to the organizers and spectators. “Call Aegis. These monsters should be forced to suffer the pain they’ve enjoyed watching. Make sure they all pay,” she whispered. “As for the Splices, bring them to my ship and make sure they’re taken care of.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Jupiter leaned against Caine, letting him support her, as she watched the goings on. One of the Splices being tended by the medical team shakily rose to her feet and made her way towards Jupiter. She looked as though she had been Spliced with a goat if the curved horns cresting her head were anything to go by. One horn had been broken and wrapped in tight bandages. The Splice was hauntingly thin, battered beyond what the spray could repair, and her eyes were like pools of pain but hope lingered in them. She knelt painfully at Jupiter’s feet.

“Merciful Queen,” she whispered.

Jupiter looked nervously down at the goat-splice. “Yes?”

“Thank you, thank you,” the woman repeated. “Thank you, Merciful Queen.”

“No problem,” Jupiter murmured worriedly.

“I would be honored to serve you, to give my life for you, Merciful Queen,” the splice continued.

Jupiter’s heart skipped a beat and she stared helplessly down at the Splice’s head.

Caine stroked her arms comfortingly, encouraging her to say something.

“Let’s just worry about getting you better first,” Jupiter whispered finally. “After that, we can talk.”

“Thank you, Merciful Queen,” she said. Slowly, the Splice got back to her feet, smiled with her eyes on some point below Jupiter’s face, and staggered back to her comrades. 

Jupiter sagged against Caine, her heart throbbing.

“You’ve done a good thing,” Caine whispered against her ear. He pressed a soft kiss to the back of her neck. He wrapped his wings and arms around her like a shelter. 

“Yeah,” Jupiter murmured and watched as her soldiers rounded up the remaining organizers, spectators, and injured Splices. She knew she had done the right thing stopping this, fighting this, but she still couldn’t believe a race that claimed to be more advanced than hers on Earth would treat Splices like this. It was as foolish as the segregation of blacks and whites had once been. Jupiter stayed at the warehouse until Aegis arrived to finish what she had started. Then, she pressed herself snuggly into Caine’s arms and whispered, “Take me back to the ship. Please.”

Caine lifted her up and held her tight to his chest. She could feel his heartbeat and soaked up the warmth of his strong body. He flew slowly back to the ship in silence and carried her all the way to her chambers. Setting her down on the bed, he knelt at her feet and helped her removed her high heels. Gently, he rubbed her aching feet and calves until he felt some of the tension leave her with a sigh. Then, he rested his head in her lap and gazed up at her with his eyes like liquid gold. 

Absently, Jupiter stroked his hair. His eyes fluttered with delight as she traced the shell of his pointed ear. When her fingers slid lower and smoothed over the raised brand on his neck, the mark of his Splicer, he shivered. She rested her hand there, thumb moving over his pulse and scar. 

After a moment of silence, Caine whispered, “Thank you, Jupiter.”

She scratched his scalp gently, but didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say that she hadn’t already. 

She lost track of how long Caine knelt at her feet, his head pillowed on her thighs, soaking up her affection as though he would never feel it again. She never got tired of caressing him, stroking his hair, worshiping the brand on his throat. As he relaxed, his wings unfurled and she ran her other hand along the feathered arch. Caine trembled with the new sensation, his breath warm through her dress. She dipped her head to kiss the shell of his ear. Emotionally exhausted, Jupiter’s eyes grew heavy. 

“Stay with me,” Jupiter murmured.

“Of course,” he said readily.

Jupiter smiled, unzipped the back of her dress, and shimmied out of it. She hadn’t been able to wear a bra beneath its tight layers. In only her panties, she slipped beneath the covers and waited for Caine to join her. He removed his boots, shirt, and armor before sliding in beside her. He wrapped her in his arms, cradling her to his bare chest, with his wing lying as heavy and warm as any blanket over her.

She snuggled against him and slow tears leaked down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe how Splices were treated, simply because they were Spliced. It just wasn’t right. Caine stroked her hair, his chin tucked atop her head. Her tears were wet and warm against his chest. He kissed the top of her head, lips lingering warm and soft. 

Jupiter knew she wouldn’t be able to change anything overnight, but she had set the ball rolling and let the people of an entire planet see what she was willing to do. Caine could see how far she was willing to go for him and everyone like him. He kissed her temple softly, thrumming soft in his chest, and she knew he understood. That was all she could ask for right now.

X X X

Okay, I’m really done with this story now.

Questions, comments, concerns?


End file.
